A Family Heirloom as Legacy — Susan Schoenfeld
Susan R. Schoenfeld, CEO and Founder of Wealth Legacy Advisors LLC, serves as a ‘thought partner’ to families of wealth through personal attention and human spirit. Susan is an award-winning Thought Leader; she provides guidance on legacy, next-generation, stewardship, governance, leadership succession, and philanthropy. She recently spoke for the Greater Cincinnati Foundation to their professional advisor network.
My most prized possession isn’t a piece of jewelry, artwork or a rare coin. The object that I value most is an old, well-worn piece of cookware that my mother used each year to prepare our holiday dinners.
Mom passed more than 30 years ago, but it gives me such joy to use her favorite pot to this day as I prepare holiday dinners using her time-tested recipes. I fondly remember working by her side at our old kitchen counter, absorbing her best lessons lovingly shared. I imagine her watching over me now and guiding me. I confess that I might be heard muttering thanks to her under my breath as I stir, simmer and braise.
The notion of Family Legacy comes in many forms. It is generally not as simple as a monetary inheritance that we may be fortunate to receive from an ancestor, but rather the entirety of the family’s history and culture passed down from previous generations and then adapted by each generation as appropriate.
Your family’s legacy is the combination of all the stories and values that you learned from your ancestors, and that in turn you communicate to your descendants. It’s your family’s unique story, not just of how your family’s wealth was created, but also encompassing your and your ancestors’ hard work, sacrifice and dedication towards the ideal of providing future generations with better opportunities. These personal narratives and culture reveal much about personal values and priorities, and are individual to your family.
My mother’s old holiday cookpot to me represents a mother’s love, nurturing and nourishing her family in the best way she knew. The hours we spent together in her kitchen all those years ago resonate today with remembered warmth, laughs shared, occasional tears or frustration, but always the lessons tenderly and patiently taught. Those lessons included, yes, cooking technique, but also family anecdotes, confidences, never-before heard stories about my grandparents, the types of moments that arise offhand in the course of hours spent together on a shared project. These anecdotes, confidences, stories and moments are ingredients in the recipe of my own family legacy.
Is there a family heirloom that is part of your family legacy?
Susan Schoenfeld, a public speaker & thought partner to families of wealth and their advisors, is an award-winning thought leader. Susan’s switch from successful estate planning attorney and CPA to a trusted family advisor and thought partner was inspired by families of wealth asking her searching questions beyond estate tax planning. As a conflict-free advisor who provides no investment, tax, or legal advice and sells no product, Susan shares her insights directly with wealthy families and with financial services experts. She is active as a keynote speaker and a leader of break-out sessions and workshops at conferences throughout the US.
Connect with Susan Schoenfeld on LinkedIn.
